All posts tagged: Ken Paxton

Texas accepts some Islamic schools into voucher program after lawsuits

Texas accepts some Islamic schools into voucher program after lawsuits

Published by Sam Flores

(AP) – The Texas comptroller has accepted several Islamic private schools into the state’s voucher program after the institutions sued to gain admittance. Four Muslim parents and three Islamic private school providers that operate four campuses had sued Texas leaders for excluding the schools while accepting hundreds of other non-Islamic schools. The two federal lawsuits asked the court to block the private school voucher program from discriminating on the basis of religion. As part of the dispute, U.S. District Judge Alfred Bennett has extended the voucher application deadline to March 31 and ordered the state to consider the schools’ request to join the voucher program. The next hearing is set for April 24. The first lawsuit, filed March 1 by a parent acting on behalf of two children who attend a Houston private school, names Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock and Education Commissioner Mike Morath as defendants. A second suit filed March 11 by three parents and three schools names Hancock and Mary Katherine Stout, the voucher program director, as defendants. The two cases are now consolidated into …

Judge orders Texas to extend school voucher deadline in response to lawsuit from Islamic schools

Judge orders Texas to extend school voucher deadline in response to lawsuit from Islamic schools

Published by Sam Flores

(AP) – A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Texas to extend the application deadline for private school vouchers until March 31 due to the state’s exclusion of Islamic schools from the program. The extension comes after four Muslim parents and three Islamic private schools sued Texas leaders earlier this month, arguing state leaders discriminated against their religion by excluding them from the program. A lawyer representing plaintiffs in one of the lawsuits confirmed the ruling to The Texas Tribune. Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock — Texas’ chief financial officer who manages the voucher program — has prevented Islamic schools from participating in the program over claims that some are associated with foreign terrorist organizations. Hancock has said schools accredited by the company Cognia hosted events organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group that Gov. Greg Abbott recently designated a terrorist organization. CAIR has sued Abbott over the label, calling it defamatory and false. The U.S. State Department has not designated the organization a terrorist group. The comptroller’s office did not immediately provide comment …

Texas accepts some Islamic schools into voucher program after lawsuits

Islamic schools, more parents sue Texas over exclusion from voucher program

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — Three Texas Islamic schools and a group of parents are suing state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Comptroller Kelly Hancock, marking the second legal challenge this month alleging that schools for Muslim students have been excluded from the new state voucher program.  The second lawsuit, filed on Wednesday (March 11) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, says state officials and the voucher program director, Mary Katherine Stout, have been “unlawfully refusing to approve otherwise qualified Islamic schools for participation” in the school funding program and that it constitutes religious discrimination. The Texas Education Freedom Accounts program, introduced by the state’s Legislature in 2025, created a $1 billion fund for private school financial aid. An online platform for parents to start applying opened on Feb. 4 (open through March 17), but none of the state’s accredited private Islamic schools have been listed as eligible for reimbursement through the program. Farhana Querishi, a plaintiff whose children attend Houston Quran Academy, said in a news release that the comptroller’s decision to …

Muslim father sues over exclusion of Islamic schools from Texas voucher program

Muslim father sues over exclusion of Islamic schools from Texas voucher program

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — A Texan whose children attend an Islamic school in Houston sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Comptroller Kelly Hancock, alleging that schools for Muslim students are being excluded from the state’s new voucher program. The program, introduced by the state’s Legislature in 2025, created a $1 billion fund for private school financial aid. But since Texas Education Freedom Accounts opened for applications on Feb. 4, 2026, none of the state’s accredited private Islamic schools has been listed among those eligible for reimbursement through the program.  The “blanket exclusion of a group of private schools on the basis of their religious affiliation is a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution,” said Mehdi Cherkaoui, a father of two whose children are enrolled at the Houston Qu’ran Academy Spring, a private and accredited school excluded from the program. Cherkaoui, a lawyer who represents himself, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court on March 1.  The suit says the state unjustly targeted these schools, which Cherkaoui noted are “not schools where kids go to memorize the …

Five races to watch on the day the 2026 midterm elections kick off

Five races to watch on the day the 2026 midterm elections kick off

Published by Sam Flores

Tuesday is the first moment of truth for the 2026 midterm elections. It’s the day the first polls will close to kick off a seven-month stretch of primaries that will help shape who will win the House and Senate on Election Day, Nov. 3. While Democrats are favored to win the House and Republicans seem likely to keep the Senate, much will depend on the results of the primaries leading up to the big day. Here are five early races taking place Tuesday that will indicate how the rest of the election could go: 1. Texas Senate Republican Primary Sen. John Cornyn, Ken Paxton, Texas attorney general, and Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas. Getty Images Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, is attempting to keep his seat in a heated primary against two challengers: State Attorney General Ken Paxton and Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt, who represents a Houston-area district. Despite Senate Republicans and establishment donors pouring tens of millions into the race for Cornyn, most polls show Paxton as the frontrunner. His track record opposing President Joe …

CBS blocks James Talarico interview by Stephen Colbert

CBS blocks James Talarico interview by Stephen Colbert

Published by Sam Flores

Democratic Texas state Rep. James Talarico speaks during a U.S. Senate campaign launch rally in Round Rock, Texas, Sept. 9, 2025. Brandon Bell | Getty Images Stephen Colbert ripped CBS for barring him from airing on his late-night TV show an interview with Texas state Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate. “You know who’s not one of my guests tonight? That’s Texas Representative James Talarico,” Colbert told his show’s studio audience for Monday night’s broadcast of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” “He was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast,” said Colbert, drawing boos from the crowd. “Then I was told in some uncertain terms that not only could I not have him on, I could not mention me not having him on,” Colbert said. “And because my network clearly doesn’t want us to talk about this, let’s talk about this,” Colbert said to laughs and applause. “The …